Tuesday, 31 July 2007

A blogger's criticism of Robert Fisk

I have to agree with this, I respect Fisk a lot but he displays an oldsters attitude to the Net. It's not a web of hate, it gives the population of this planet the ability to research and publish their ideas without a bunch of academics or professionals telling them it's not good enough because it doesn't meet certain standards of language or subservience to mainstream ideas. Besides, who the hell wants a room full of messy newspapers when they can all be accessed online? Not to mention the fact that you can read small provincial newspapers from around the world which you would never be able to buy as hardcopy. Robert Fisk is a very brave and intelligent man but he does not, I think, understand the fundamental nature of the Internet. But then can we really fault that in a person brought up on hardcopy?

Robert Fisk is one of the greatest reporters of all time. He has written some of the most insightful, biting criticisms about U.S./Israeli/British foreign policy and provided readers, in vivid detail, a vision of of the plight of people living in war torn areas of the Middle East. I have nothing but sincere gratitude to him for putting his life on the line to give us these excellent stories. But, having said this, I think he is doing a disservice to his readers by claiming his contempt for the Internet and also by his refusal to look critically into the events of 9/11.

As far as Fisk's distain for the Internet, here is what he had to say about it in his latest article published in The Independent:

Robert Fisk: No wonder the bloggers are winning:

I despise the Internet. It's irresponsible and, often, a net of hate. And I don't have time for Blogopops. But here's a tale of two gutless newspapers which explains why more and more people are Googling rather than turning pages.

With such a broad, sweeping dismissal of the vast expanse of scientific research, political articles, commentaries, and important videos that one would never see on prime time news, calling the Internet "irresponsible" is the epitome of irresponsibility itself.

Most of us who use the Internet have found invaluable information about covert operations and alternative history that one could never find in our school's history books or newspapers. Maybe, if we tried hard enough, we might be able to find a book at the library that would reveal the layers of hidden history, but we would have to try really hard as publishers are reluctant to publish those books. True, on the Net we have to separate out the bad information from the good, but, at least it's there for us to sort out instead of the censors at the Ministry of Truth.

And, as far as his comment that the Internet is a "net of hate". Yes, we know that the Internet will connect people to hate-spewing Nazi propaganda web sites, as well as Zionist ones, but the internet doesn't even come close to being a organ for hate -- with its captive audience to millions -- as traditional media.

For example, Fisk should spend some time watching Glenn Beck as he gives his nightly "two minute hate" speeches on CNN. For those who don't know Beck. His job is to tell Americans how much Muslims hate us and are itching to drop a nuclear bomb on one of our cities. This vile speech often runs simultaneously with a visual of a nuclear bomb going off in the background.

Sometimes the scenarios on Beck's program don't always culminate in a mushroom cloud but are more mundane, though horrifying just the same. For instance, just the previous night Beck had on his program fiction writer and DHS terrorist-scenario creator, Brad Thor, telling American parents that their kids are in jeopardy from a Beslan-like school hostage crisis from depraved, fanatical Muslims. (So much for the notion of corporate responsibility -- this raving lunatic is given a soapbox to voice his hate courtesy of the Time Warner company who are owners of CNN).

And, if you don't get your hate from that bastion of liberalism, CNN, you could always go to Fox New's Bill O'Reilly who hates everything liberal, and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough who ran one of the most vicious campaigns to get Rosie O'Donnell fired from The View -- right at a time that she was educating people about 9/11.

Broadcast news and radio oozes hate and fear to millions daily, but, just because it is corporate-sponsored, does that make it any less reprehensible than what one can read on the Internet?

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

I notice that British reporters are always ironical ,Fisk is probably commenting on the British media ; after all, who in Britain has heard of these papers or these reporters .Much misunderstanding comes from this.Americans are much more direct or their irony goes over my head .

Enlightenment

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